Prison inmate found dead in his cell

A 57-year-old prison inmate was found dead Thursday night inside a maximum-security prison cell in Allegany County, state police said.

The man was an inmate at the North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland. Division of Correction officials have not released the man's identity because family has not been notified.

The man's cell mate told a correctional officer around 6 p.m. Thursday that he thought there was something wrong, police said. Inside the cell, correctional officers found the inmate unresponsive and he was taken to the Western Maryland Regional Health Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

His body was later taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy to identify the cause and manner of death.

State Police homicide investigators and the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Internal Investigative Unit are investigating.